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Yesterday's Republican presidential primary candidate debate was another sad demonstration of a group of white guys trying to outdo each other in looking extreme right wing, while pandering to the evangelical theofascists and fear mongers.

Ron Paul continues to stand out from the crowd. He's the only one who opposes the war, and he actually voted against it. He actually rejects Bush's nonsense talking point that the terrorists "hate us because of our liberties and freedoms."


When Ron Paul suggests that we were attacked because of our excesses of engagement with the rest of the world, for being obnoxiously in their territory. Giuliani takes offense. "You mean we were attacked because of what WE did? You should withdraw your statement and apologize"
The crowd cheers

Ron Paul makes it clear that he believes 9/11 was an example of what the CIA calls "blowback," also citing the kidnapping of Americans in the US embassy in Iran.

Like sharks in a feeding frenzy, all the other candidates want to respond to Paul. But as I watched him, my respect for him grew even more. This man may be an extreme conservative, but he's no theocrat, no corporatist. He's a truthteller who hews to the constitution. There are plenty of reasons why a liberal would not vote for him, but if he was running on the right, at least we'd know, if he won, that an honest man with the integrity not to kowtow to religious extremists or corporate special interests. He's his own man. The rest of the Republican presidential primary pack are frightening in the effort to be all things to all right wing extremists.


Asked about a theoretical scenario where terrorists are captured and more are thought to be planning worst attacks, the whole crew talk about using what it takes, alluding to torture. The crowd cheers.

Giuliani says use what needs to be done. THe crowd cheers the idea of torture. The others, try to outdo him.

Well, they're talking to their base-- the 32% of the people who still support Bush and the war. Watch them flip flop back to the middle, once the primaries are over.



The War Czar
The Wall Street Journal wrote, the other day, that Bush and his team are paying less and less attention to Iraq and Afghanistan. Like a chronic disease that you get used to, they are learning to live with it... until they hand it over to the Democrat who takes office in Jan 2009. So what's the story with the War Czar?

Simple. This allows Bush to become even more removed from the whole annoying Iraq Afghanistan thing. He can hand it off to the Czar and let him take care of it and take the blame for it.

We can't let that happen in congress. We need to make sure that until we get the US out of the stupid disaster that Bush and his rubber stamp congressional supporters put us in, the Dem congress has to  keep paying attention. They can't let themselves off the hook with dilatory legislation.

They should bring this "war czar" to congress to answer questions.

The good news is, he is, apparently, not the most far right, hawkish of generals. For all we know, he may even have been hired to be the guy who says its time to get out. Wouldn't that be interesting?


Walking the talk means saying things that are "against the rules" Someone has to do it.
Yesterday, I wrote a blistering obituary on Jerry Falwell. There are over 65 comments on it at this writing. Most are in agreement. I have received one message informing me that a subscriber was cancelling her subscription, for my "hateful" title to yesterday's newsletter (God to Dead Jerry Falwell-- Go to hell.) Most of the media are beating around the bush, saying Falwell was loved or hated. Well, the truth is, most of the readers on this site hated him, and saw him for the vile, toxic abuser of the teachings of Jesus. So I said it, being very clear in my head that I wanted to do what I could to push the dialogue towards his toxicity, so he will never go down in history as a good man, through whatever spin his supporters will surely use.

One of our writers told me I broke one of the rules-- that you don't speak ill of the dead. Sorry. That's a bad rule, when it comes to bad people. Nobody complained when Saddam Hussein's obituaries were negative and in some cases, even gleeful. To me, Falwell was just as much an enemy of democracy. So I said what I said and sure enough, our members commented along the same lines, for the most part. OpEdNews walks the talk and speaks truth to power that is getting harder to find. Now, wE had $105 in contributions from six people yesterday. We still need to raise $2700 to cover the month and we're halfway through. That puts us WAY behind. Please think about this. How many media sites supply you with great links to articles all over the web and publish tough, truthful articles that say what's really happening.
So Come ON! Help us keep going. Help us catch up so we are not coming from behind. If you liked what I said about Jerry Falwell, send in a contribution. If you didn't like it, but recognize that there needs to be a place where it can be said, send in a contribution.

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This week, we can use extra help with posting quicklinks. It takes two minutes or less to do one. Share the news with fellow readers. That's how we're waking up America and the planet, one link, one person at a time.

Thanks for all you do,

Rob Kall